The Hill:
Congress intends to slash funds for the Obama administration’s counterterrorism partnership fund next year to reduce defense spending to a level negotiated last week between the White House and congressional leadership.
The $1 billion fund, authorized in 2016, would fall to $750 million, according to documents obtained by The Hill that show where $5 billion in cuts from the Pentagon’s authorized budget would be made.
The Pentagon’s train-and-equip program for Syrian rebels that was authorized at $531 million in 2016 will be reduced by $125 million. Although the White House suspended the original program, it has transitioned to a program in which the leaders of rebel groups are trained, and the groups are equipped with ammunition and potentially weapons in the future.
The cuts of $5 billion were reached Monday after consultations between House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the Senate Armed Services Committee and defense appropriators.
Congress and the White House agreed last week on a budget that would leave the Pentagon $5 billion short of the amount authorized in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act.
Military readiness would also be hit hard by the cuts. The documents detail a $250 million cut for Army readiness, and a $193 million decrease for Army National Guard readiness.
A large portion of the cuts are found in planned Defense Department headquarters streamlining and attrition — $435 million.
Lowered fuel prices would result in a $1.082 billion reduction — the largest cut. About $110 million in additional fuel savings would come from the Afghan Security Forces Fund.
The cuts include reductions for some major weapons systems, although the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program would be spared…
